Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 13: Maple Leafs, Golden Knights, Oilers move on to Round 2; Avs force Game 7
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.
Pacioretty scores late to eliminate Sens on third try
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of an entire city sighing in relief. After losing the first two opportunities to finish the Ottawa Senators, all of the typical playoff narratives emerged about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Even as Auston Matthews scored a power play goal and William Nylander gave them a 2-0 lead, the Senators came back, including an ugly goal from behind-the-net from David Perron, not that different from past weak backbreakers allowed in pivotal playoff games. But Max Pacioretty scored in the final six minutes to give the Leafs the lead, and a Nylander empty netter guaranteed them a 4-2 win in the game and the series. The Leafs now advance to the second round for the second time in three years, where much like 2023, they will face the Florida Panthers, while the Senators will have to wait before getting their first playoff series win since their last playoff appearance in 2017.
MAX PACIORETTY FOR THE LEAD!!! WHAT A GAME pic.twitter.com/ajpDySIJWY
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 2, 2025For more on the Leafs finally beating the Senators and what lies ahead with the Panthers, check out Matt Larkin’s story here.
Golden Knights hang on to win, advance to second round
With the Vegas Golden Knights playing with a chance to eliminate the Minnesota Wild, the challenge was about to be a little bit tougher with top goal-scorer Pavel Dorofeyev out of the lineup. But that didn’t seem to be a problem for the Golden Knights for most of the game. Shea Theodore opened the scoring 3:30 into the game on the power play, and even after a late period goal from Ryan Hartman tied it up, Jack Eichel scored late in the second and Mark Stone added to that lead with less than four minutes left to give Vegas the 3-1 lead.
But the Wild weren’t going to go away quietly, as Hartman scored just 31 seconds after Stone to make it a one-goal game again. Minnesota was frantically trying to get the tying goal, but no dice from Adin Hill, and the Golden Knights hung on for the 3-2 win. Vegas takes the series 4-2 as a result, and advance to the second round for the fifth time in eight seasons as a franchise, while the Wild fail to win a playoff series for the 10th-straight season. As for who the Golden Knights will face in the second round, keep reading to possibly find out.
Avalanche rally in third to force Game 7
That’s right, we at least get one Game 7 in the first round of these playoffs, and what an entertaining way to guarantee it. After two goals from Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen in the first period made it seem like the Colorado Avalanche were going to cruise to a victory, Roope Hintz and former-Av Mikko Rantanen posted four-point second period performances for the Dallas Stars to rally back and give them a 4-3 lead going into the third.
Just when it seemed like the Avalanche were going to be burned by their former teammate, they got goals from Nichushkin and Nathan MacKinnon in the first half of the third period to pull back ahead and take the 5-4 lead, including a particularly ugly goal from MacKinnon. Josh Manson and Cale Makar secured the win with empty net goals, and this series is going seven games.
AN UGLY OWN GOAL MAKES IT 5-4 AVS
🎥TNT #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/CHTxkDOjmR
Oilers eliminate Kings for fourth straight season
This series might haunt the Los Angeles Kings the most amidst this four-year run of being stuck facing the Edmonton Oilers in the first round. They were the better team for the first four games, and yet they only came out of it with a 2-2 tie. They even got the first goal in both Games 5 and 6, but they let the Oilers respond. In Game 6 particularly, their 1-0 and 2-1 leads were punished because they decided to play the Oilers game, and over the course of the first two periods, the Edmonton built up a 5-2 lead in the game.
The Kings attempted to make it interesting, scoring with two minutes left in the second and just 55 seconds left in the game to make it a one-goal game again, but that was as close as they would get. Connor Brown finished off a three-point night with an empty net goal to make it 6-4, and the Oilers would take the game and the series. With that, they advance to the second round for the fourth straight season to play the Golden Knights, while the Kings still have yet to win a playoff series since their last Stanley Cup win in 2014.